For the first time, health advocates have designated a specific month for national attention to pediatric obesity. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, and as we near its end I'd like to share what a few nurse practitioner students have done to call attention to it. Last weekend, three NP students from Samuel Merritt ...

I'm here at the annual conference of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), where pediatric NPs have set a new record for conference attendance. About 1,500 pediatric NPs are here in Chicago to network, earn CE credits and discuss current issues. The conference officially kicked off yesterday with a moving opening ...

While watching the Super Bowl a few weeks ago, my joy over the Saints’ final touchdown was dashed by a phone call. The facts were cloudy but heart wrenching: My son’s 12-year-old friend was in the hospital, apparently near death, as a result of two seizures that had resulted in severe brainstem swelling. Luke survived the night, and in the ensuing ...

I just returned from NAPNAP's annual conference, where pediatric nurse practitioners were abuzz with possibilities for health care reform. Watch our blogs and Web site for more detail in coming weeks, but this morning I urge you to visit NAPNAP's Web site (www.napnap.org) and its legislative action center. You do not need to be a member of NAPNAP ...

ADVANCE editors know a lot, but apparently we don't know everything. (What else is new?) We got an e-mail message last week from an NP protesting an ad in our March print edition. (You might have trouble viewing the ad if you're not a subscriber to ADVANCE.) The ad from the State of New York Department of Public Health urges health care ...